Love for the Loveless rewritten
by chilledcactus
Summary: After helping to save the world from the giants and Gaia, Percy is hoping his life will finally calm down and he can have a happily ever after. Unfortunately, it isn't long before he is betrayed by several of the gods he has saved so many times. As a result, he is forced to leave camp to protect his friends. As he lives on his own, he slowly loses hope until he finds a new home.
1. Chapter 1

_**Well, let's have us some fun here. Hopefully you guys like this rewritten version. This story I feel needed the rewrite a lot more than my first story did. This story has a lot of potential, but I really screwed myself with my original version of the story.**_

_**I know a lot of people liked it, and I can understand that. It most certainly wasn't terrible. The problem was that it was getting away from me. I had my ideas for how the story would go, and the more I wrote, the more it got away from me. I also made a few major mistakes that I intend to correct this time around.**_

_**Ah, before we get to the story, one final reminder: This is not an Athena friendly story. If you are fond of her, you will not enjoy this story. I personally cannot stand Athena; this story will make that rather clear. Also, I needed some god to have an evil plan to bring down Percy, and since I know she kind of dislikes him, I chose her for the role.**_

_**Anyways, lets get to the story.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of them other books that are related.**_

_-Athena POV-_

I was not in a good mood. I had warned that sea spawn multiple times to stay away from my daughter, but he never listened. Now, my daughter seemed to believe that she was in love with him as well. That thought was disturbing on multiple levels. For one, he was a sea spawn, a child of the most vile god on the council. My children should all know better than to spend time with his kind, let alone fall in love with one.

The thought made me sick. Annabeth had potential, a wonderful future ahead of her. If she spent too much time with this waste of breath sea spawn, his lack of intelligence could rub off on her and bring her down. I would not stand for that. Something needed to be done.

If he was any normal demigod, a simple accident is all it would take to end him and bring about a resolution to the problem. Unfortunately, the boy had somehow managed to save Olympus. Sure, he was good with a sword, but his intelligence was abysmal. However, due to having helped save Olympus a few times, if he suddenly died, there would be an investigation and it might get traced back to me. Then, I would have a war on my hands. I needed some way to break him and my daughter up, but I had to be careful how I did it. If I messed up, things could get ugly. I needed a plan.

The war with the giants had been over for several months before I finally got my plan. I would make Annabeth fall in love with some other guy, one that I approved of. Hephaestus has some decent children, maybe one of them will work. All I needed to do was get rid of the sea spawn for long enough to get my plan rolling. I might need some help with this, but I could do it. This plan would work fine. Yes, I could almost taste the success.

_-Percy POV-_

It had been several months since the war against the giants and Gaia, and things had finally calmed down. It had taken a little time for Annabeth to get over the fact that I had been missing for eight months, but now that she had, our relationship was stronger than ever. On top of that, Rachel hadn't produced any new Great Prophecy, so I was holding out hope that maybe my troubles were behind me, maybe I could settle down and have a calmer life.

My biggest concern at the time was Athena. As much as I tried to respect her, she still didn't approve of me. If I had simply wanted to be friends with her daughter, she might not have minded, but the thought that the son of her greatest rival was dating her favorite daughter just didn't sit well with her. I hoped that eventually she would accept me, but for the time, I simply tried my best not to anger her.

That night, as I made my way to my cabin, I felt a presence appear near me. I turned to see what it was and found myself face-to-face with Athena. Her visit surprised me, but remembering that I was trying to make her like me, I quickly bowed to her and showed her respect. I wanted to ask her what she was doing here, but I knew it would be rude to speak first. If she wanted to tell me something, she would do it without my prodding.

Athena looked into my eyes and it felt as if she was trying to pick my mind. Of what, I wasn't sure. After several seconds of this, she offered a thin smile and spoke up, "Perseus, as you know, I do not approve of your relationship with my daughter. However, after thinking things over for a while, I've decided to give you a chance to earn my approval. I've seen you save Olympus and help your friends, with plenty of help from others, I would like to test you and you alone though. If you pass, I will give you my blessing to court my daughter."

She smiled at me again, but I could see the ideas spinning around in her mind if I looked at her eyes. Now, I wanted to yell at her, to explain everything I had ever done for Annabeth, but I knew that would just make her angry and it wouldn't change anything, except maybe making Athena hate me even more. She was giving me a chance to earn her approval; I had to take this opportunity. I smiled at her, "Lady Athena, I am willing to do whatever it takes to prove myself worthy. Just tell me what this test is, and I will get right to it."

Now Athena was grinning at me, which should have tipped me off that something wasn't quite right, but alas, I was hoping that she was genuinely giving me a chance to prove myself. "Okay Perseus, tomorrow night at 10:00, be at the top of Halfblood Hill by the pine tree. You will leave then to complete the tasks I require. There are three tasks, you will probably be gone for several months."

I gaped at her. I mean _several months?_ I didn't want to be gone that long, Annabeth hadn't done too well when I had been kidnapped for eight months, but I didn't really have much of a choice here. I would tell Annabeth why I was going to be gone and hope she would understand. I needed to get Athena's approval; it would make things so much easier. "All right, I'll be there. 10:00."

"Good. For now though, sleep well Perseus, and be prepared come tomorrow evening. The challenges won't be easy, that I promise you." After she was finished with her final warning, Athena teleported away, leaving me in front of my cabin wondering what exactly she had planned for me. Knowing Athena, nothing good.

With a sigh, I turned and walked into my cabin. I lay in my bunk and thought about how I would tell Annabeth about this. She wouldn't be too thrilled with the idea, but hopefully she'd understand why I needed to do this. With another sigh, I lay back in my bed and drifted off to sleep.

In my dream, I was in a forest. I didn't recognize it, but I hadn't really explored many forests except the one at camp. I noticed I was in some sort of camp; there was a tent set up behind me as well as a tarp over my head. In front of me was a fire pit. Wherever I was, it appeared I'd been there for some time. As I looked around the camp, something else caught my eye, something pretty major.

I was surrounded by monsters. There must have been over 100 of them and they all looked like they wanted to kill me. My first thought was to draw my sword, but my dream self seemed to have a different idea. He looked at the monsters and spoke, "So, you finally came. I've been waiting for you. Well, if you want to kill me, have at it."

Then, my dream self did something really strange: he sat down. He turned his back to the monsters and faced his tent before simply sitting down. I heard the monsters snarl and roar at this insult to them, and then I heard the sounds of them begin their attack. If my goal had been to anger the monsters, I'd certainly succeeded. I now expected myself to jump up and at least try to fight. Once again though, I was surprised. I just remained seated as the monsters came.

I felt claws bite into me and then a javelin pierced my side. I could feel the pain and tried to cry out, but in my dream, I simply smiled. Before I could question anything beyond that, I heard the sound of a hunting horn and I awoke.

It was early morning and I tried to make sense of my dream. None of it made any sense to me. Why was I living in a forest? Camp was my home. Why hadn't I tried to fight back against the monsters? Why did I smile when they were about to kill me? None of it made the least bit of sense to me. However, I decided to keep this dream to myself. It didn't concern anyone other than myself, and I didn't want to worry anyone else. This dream was my problem; I had to deal with it myself.

That morning, after breakfast, I pulled Annabeth aside and told her about my encounter with her mother the night before. She looked at me and I could see the annoyance and anger in her eyes. I hoped she wasn't angry with me, but I couldn't be sure. For several minutes, she just glared at me.

Finally, she let out a sigh, "My mother can be too stubborn for her own good. I really don't want you to leave again, but I do understand why you agreed. Our relationship would be so much easier if she would just accept it. Your father doesn't care who you date, my mother should really feel the same way. Oh well. You'd better complete her trials as fast as you can. I'll kill you if you delay and make me think you're just, gone, again."

I could see she was close to tears at the idea of me disappearing again, so I wrapped her in a hug and tried to soothe her. "Don't worry Annabeth. I won't be gone for too long. Your mother said it would take several months. If I had to guess, I would say that means somewhere between three and five months. Maybe a little longer. I will hurry and get back as quickly as I can though, I don't like being separated from you anymore than you do. I will do these tasks for Athena because I love you and want to be with you. Nothing will stop me from returning."

She smiled at me, "I know you will Seaweed Brain. I know. Now, since you're leaving tonight, how about we skip our activities for the day and just hang out together?"

I smiled at her, "Of course. That sounds like a terrific idea."

For the rest of the day, we just walked around with each other. We also spent several hours relaxing on the beach. It was calming and peaceful, a good way to spend the day before I'd have to leave for a while. It was also nice to know that once I got back, I'd be able to spend more time with Annabeth without Athena interfering.

Eventually though, the day ended and made way for the night. After the campfire, I said goodnight to Annabeth before making my way to my cabin. I grabbed my stuff I'd packed for the journey before making my way towards Halfblood Hill.

Once I arrived, I checked the time. It was 9:45; I had some time to spare. I sat down and leaned back against Peleus. When I did that, he swiveled his head around and relaxed it into my lap. I smiled at the dragon and began rubbing his head. His job was to protect the fleece, but he had a soft spot for some of us older campers.

For several minutes, I just sat there, with my back against the dragon and his head in my lap. Every now and then, he'd release a puff of smoke, indicating his contentedness. I sighed before leaning back and closing my eyes.

_**Well, that is the rewritten first chapter. I didn't add a lot, but I did try to clarify several things. Several parts felt quite rushed to me and I made sure to fix them.**_

_**Now, reviews, PM's, and stuff are always welcome, so please, let me know what you think.**_

_**Anyways, I should have the next chapter up soon. Check back regularly.**_

_**Rewritten 7/16/2012**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Well, here goes the second chapter.**_

_**I don't really like rewriting these next several chapters. The ones that detail Percy's trials through when he leaves camp. They're important, but they're also just background information for why things happened. I really want to just get to the main story, but alas, I'm trying to do a thorough job, so this gets a rewrite as well. Not much will change, but it should be better than it had been.**_

_**Gah, this chapter I have to write about the love between Percy and Annabeth. I have nothing against the pair, but it definitely isn't my favorite. Also, I suck at writing romance stuff. Ah well, I'll live.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or the related works.**_

_-Percy POV-_

As I relaxed against Peleus, I nearly fell asleep. Just as I was about to drift off though, there was a flash of light and I saw Athena appear next to the tree. Peleus quickly raised his head to see who the newcomer was and I took the opportunity to quickly stand. Once I gained my feet, I bowed to the goddess.

Athena looked at me and sighed, "Well, at least you were here on time. I can't speak much for your etiquette around gods, but at least you're trying. Now, I would assume you would like to know your first challenge. Well, your first task is to walk from here all the way to the Garden of the Hesperides. You may not use any means of transportation other than your own arms and legs. Once you enter the garden, I will appear and give you your second task. I wish you the best of luck, it would be such a tragedy if you were to not make it." Then, Athena flashed away, leaving me alone on the hillside.

I sighed and turned to Peleus, "Well old friend, it looks like I'm going to be gone a while. Take care of camp while I'm gone, okay?" Peleus just nodded and released a puff of smoke.

After that, I turned my back on camp and set off into the woods. This was going to take a while. If what Annabeth had taught me was correct, and I'm sure it was, I had nearly 3000 miles to travel. If I travelled 30 miles a day, that would be 100 days, or a little over three months. There was no way I wanted to take that long to travel, so I decided I would push myself and force myself to get there faster. I'd walk from sunup to sundown, possibly longer if I had the energy to do so. My biggest problem was going to be the monsters. As a son of Poseidon, they would be attracted to me from miles away and I could only hope I'd be strong enough to fight them all off.

I travelled about three miles before I decided to rest for the night. I wanted to get as much distance the next day as possible. If I was near camp with monsters looking fro me, I'd be putting other demigods at risk, and I didn't want to do that.

The next morning, I awoke to the sun shining in my face. I groaned and rolled over before I remembered where I was and what I was doing. With a grunt, I got up and packed my small camp. I had a quick breakfast before heading out.

At first, hiking more than ten hours a day was impossible for me. I was in pretty good shape from all my demigod training, but I had never been trained for endurance like this. By the end of the first week of travelling, I'd improved enough to hike about twelve hours. I had to be careful about how much I exerted myself though, because if I wasn't careful, when the monsters found me, I wouldn't be able to fend them off.

Fighting monsters wasn't too common but it happened enough to give me pause. Every day I'd normally be found by at least one group of monsters. Most of the groups consisted of Hellhounds and Dracaena, but occasionally others would be mixed in as well. On the plus side though, nothing ever showed up that I couldn't handle.

By the end of the second week, I was hiking for 14 hours a day without too much trouble. Deciding I still wanted to make faster progress, I decided I would start mixing some running in with my hiking. I started alternating hours between hiking and jogging. This helped speed up my progress and I was happy about that.

Every time I came across a town, I'd make sure to restock on supplies. I didn't go through much in terms of supplies, but I needed to constantly restock my food. I was burning tons of calories and needed to eat a lot. For the most part, I lived on freeze-dried food and dehydrated fruits. It was easy to carry and easy to prepare. It got boring really quickly, but I didn't have the convenience of luxury and I wasn't going to complain. It also held the nutrients I needed to get by on. The stuff was made for people who were exerting themselves like I was.

A month and a half into my journey, I was running upwards of ten hours a day. Combine the running with another four to five hours of walking and I was making nearly 100 miles. I figured at this kind of progress, I was in danger of severely hurting my legs or something, but it seemed that the godly part of my being was able to help me overcome more human limitations.

After a few more days had passed, I found myself looking into the ocean. The sight made me grin. I'd finally reached the west coast. I immediately walked into the waves and felt my energy return. The long journey had been exhausting, but I was almost at the end of it. At least near the end of my first task. As I entered the ocean, I focused on my location and realized I was several hundred miles north of where I wanted to be. Since I wasn't done yet, I turned south and continued my journey.

Several days of intense travel later, I reached my destination. San Francisco sprawled before me and I smiled at the sight. It wasn't New York, but it was a big city. I quickly made my way to the entrance to the garden before I remembered I wouldn't be able to enter it yet. It was barely after noon and it could only be entered at sunset.

Deciding I deserved a break, I found a tree and leaned back against it, hoping for a little relaxation before my next test. As I lay down, I thought about my journey and realized I was in the best shape of my life. I was able to travel 100 miles in a day without too much trouble and still had the energy to fight monsters as I needed to. The trek all the way here to the Garden of the Hesperides had increased my endurance and strength to levels I had never really thought about before. On top of that, my monster fighting abilities had increased as well.

The biggest challenge had been the fact that I never knew when the monsters would attack. They could smell me, but I had no way to know where they were until they attacked. This led to me always being on guard and prepared to fight under all circumstances. Since I was alone, I had no one to watch my back, I had to always be prepared. I had even reached the point where I could be woken up at 2:00 in the morning and be capable of fighting in seconds.

Unfortunately, I had finally relaxed my guard. As I leaned back against a tree and thought about my journey, a large group of monsters had used the chance to surround me. I looked up from where I was relaxing and groaned. Surrounding me were maybe 20 Hellhounds, 5 Laistrygonians, and 15 Dracaena. If I had to guess, I would say they all smelled me as I ran through the city and had followed me to here.

I cursed my carelessness as I stood up and uncapped Riptide. I immediately put my back to the tree, thankful I at least had that for protection. As I glared at them, the monsters appeared to be steeling themselves to attack me. I smirked at them and gave my sword a small wave, "Well? You going to attack me today or do you just want to have a talk?"

That got the monsters angry and they finally began their attack. For the next 20 minutes, the monsters attacked me in small groups, the tree behind me preventing them from really being able to gang up on me. I, on the other hand, just stayed where I was. I dodged their attacks and retaliated with my own. By the time the battle finally ended, I was exhausted. That had been the largest group of monsters to attack me yet. Normally I only ran into to two or three of them at a time.

Since I didn't have the Mark of Achilles anymore, I had several cuts and gashes on my arms, legs, and sides. I was breathing heavily and wouldn't be in any condition to fight if more monsters showed up. I quickly reached into my pack and pulled out the last of my ambrosia. I was hesitant to finish it, but I knew I needed to be in good condition, in case any more monsters showed up and so I'd be ready for my next task.

As I ate the ambrosia and felt my body heal, I took the time to check the time. I still had about three hours before I'd be able to enter the garden, so I'd have to stick around out here for a little longer. This time though, I definitely wasn't going to let my guard down. I spent the next several hours pacing the area, patrolling for monsters and wondering about what my next task might be. Athena was not someone to underestimate.

No more monsters showed up, but I never relaxed. When the time finally came, I put all my stuff away and prepared to enter the garden. I could feel the power of the mist around the garden, concealing it from mortals and protecting its entrance. I concentrated my hardest on the garden and walked into the mist. As I came into the garden, I smiled. It was as beautiful as it had been the last time I had entered. On the other hand, I was a little lonelier this time, as I had no friends with me.

As soon as I saw the tree with the apples of immortality, I heard a voice next to me speak, "You have nerve to come back here after you helped to have our father imprisoned once more. This time, you won't be getting through so easily."

I turned towards the voice and saw the four Hesperides. It had been several years since I had last seen them, and it seemed they still weren't very fond of me. Oh well, I wasn't very fond of them either. After what they had done to their sister, I was tempted to just gut the four remaining Hesperides. However, I just ignored them and waited for Athena to show up.

As soon as I thought her name, there was a bright flash and Athena appeared in front of me. She looked at me with calculating eyes before giving a smile that didn't seem to be very happy. "Well, it seems you survived the first test. Good job with that, however, you still have two more test to go, so I hope you're ready. This next one is even harder." She then grabbed my shoulder and teleported me to the top of the mountain in front of Atlas.

Atlas saw us appear and as soon as his eyes saw me, he began cursing. I did my best to tune him out and turned to Athena, "What's my next task? Why'd you bring me here?"

Athena looked at me before a rather Hermes like smile appeared on her face. There was a dangerous glint to her eyes and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Athena must have seen my face because she let out a small laugh before speaking, "Why, your next task is simple really, you don't even have to move for it. All you have to do is hold the sky again. For a month."

For several seconds, I was too stunned to speak. My jaw was on the ground and I wasn't sure if I had heard her right. "Wait, you want me to hold the sky? For a month? What about Atlas? And what if I fail and the sky touches the Earth, destroying half of California? Don't you think this might be a little dangerous?"

Athena just smiled at me, "Perseus, your life is always dangerous, I thought you'd be used to it by now. If you want to avoid destroying California, I advise you not to fail. As for Atlas here, he'll be chained to the ground directly in front of you. This will allow him to taunt you to his hearts content. Hopefully it makes this a little more fun for you. He won't be able to escape because I've enlisted the help of several gods to help move him. You really don't need to worry about that. Now, if you want to just give up though, I'll understand. So what's it going to be?"

I glared at her; there was no way I'd give up. She was doing this on purpose, trying to make me lose hope and give up so I wouldn't have the opportunity to succeed. Still, this was going to be a difficult task. I shook my head to clear my mind before staring Athena in the eyes, "I will not give up. I'll hold the sky for a month. What about food and water though? I need that to live."

Athena looked at me funny, "Perseus, you can't really be that stupid, can you? As long as you are holding the sky, your body will need to sustenance. Well, not from the outside anyways. This is a test of willpower and determination. Everything you need must come from the inside. In return, the sky will provide your body with the physical energy it needs to stay alive."

She finished talking and I nodded, "Okay. That makes sense. Well, let's get this over with. Chain Atlas and I'll take the sky."

Athena nodded and snapped her fingers. Immediately, two more flashes of light appeared and when they died down, there were two gods in their place. I saw Hephaestus and Apollo. Apollo grinned at me, "Well, I've heard all about this test Athena's giving you. Good luck little cousin, I know you can do it."

I smiled at the sun god, "Thanks Apollo. Well, I want to finish this as soon as possible, so let's get this over with."

Apollo nodded and together with the other two Olympians, they chained Atlas. Once they had him sufficiently bound, Athena turned to me, "Okay Perseus, get over here and take the sky. Once you've taken it, you need to survive for a month before you get freed. I wish you the best of luck."

I really didn't want to do this, but I knew if I wanted Athena's approval, I had no choice. I thought about my love for Annabeth and steeled my resolve. I walked over to Atlas and knelt down. Before I could have any second thoughts, I took the sky on my shoulders.

For the second time, I could feel the sky pushing down on me. The weight of it was crushing and I knew I was in for quite a bit of misery. My whole body burned and I could feel myself being crushed. Breathing became a painful and challenging task. On top of that, trying to remain upright was nearly impossible. The sky wanted nothing more than to be reunited with the ground and I was preventing it from happening. It wanted to push me into the ground and destroy me.

Before it could do that though, I pictured Annabeth's face and forced my willpower to fight back against the sky. It didn't lessen the suffering I was going through, but it was enough for me to be able to remain in my kneeling position and not let the sky touch the earth. I couldn't give in. Not just for myself though, but for all the people who would be killed or injured if I failed. Not just that though, but anyone who was killed or injured would have friends and family elsewhere who would suffer as well. If I failed, millions of people would suffer. I couldn't allow that.

After a while, I managed to regain enough composure to take in my surroundings once more. Atlas was chained to the ground, beaten and bloodied. I guess he tried to fight off the three Olympians and failed. That didn't change the fact that he was facing me and smirking at my misery. He saw me notice him and his smirk got wider, "Good luck punk. There's no way you're going to be able to survive this for a month. You saw Artemis after she held the sky for a week; she's an Olympian and was barely able to keep the sky lifted. You're just a pathetic mortal demigod; you don't stand a chance at success. I don't know why you're doing this, but it takes a true idiot to agree to it. On the other hand, I must thank you for freeing me from my prison, even if it is for so short a time."

I did my best to tune him out and take in the rest of my surroundings. I noticed all the gods had disappeared, probably back on Olympus or wherever they spend their time. I tried to take in more, but found that I couldn't concentrate on anything other than the sky without losing my hold over it. On top of that, the massive pain I was feeling made it hard to concentrate on other things anyways.

It felt as if I had been wrapped in chains and sent to the center of the planet. My entire body was burning and being compressed by massive pressure. I could feel my body slowly compressing and figured eventually I would be little more than a Percy Pancake, crushed beyond recognition. The pain was terrible and the more I tried to focus on my surroundings, the more I felt I was dying.

I realized that I needed to focus on the sky and keeping it up, otherwise I would fall. In order to have the strength to lift the sky, I needed motivation. Thinking about all the people who would be hurt if I failed was good motivation, but it wasn't enough. What did give me enough strength though was love. My love for Annabeth provided me all the strength I needed to fight back against the sky. The harder the sky pushed me, the more I thought about Annabeth and the harder I pushed back against the sky. Eventually, the only motivation I could concentrate on was Annabeth, everything else seemed like insignificant details.

The passage of time was impossible to tell. Counting days was impossible simply because I couldn't concentrate on the day. 99% of the time I was forced to focus solely on the sky and my pain, preventing me from being able to tell the passage of days. I could see if it was day or night, but beyond that, I couldn't tell. I knew time was passing because I could feel the sky crushing me. As time passed, it got worse and I could feel myself slowly sinking. As hard as I fought the sky, it was still more powerful than I was. The longer I stayed under the sky, the closer I got to the earth.

At one point, I looked down and realized I was on my hands and knees, no longer kneeling under the sky. The sky was rested on my back and continued trying to push me lower. I tried my hardest to fight the sky, but it was a losing battle, that much I knew. I could feel my stomach slowly inching towards the ground and knew that eventually, I'd give out and the sky would win.

Having Atlas and the Hesperides around just made everything worse. Most of the time, I couldn't hear or understand them. However, when I could hear or understand them, they were laughing at me and mocking me. I tried to ignore them, but I couldn't ever stop myself from hearing them occasionally. Their constant chatter and noise making was distracting, it made my job harder and seemed to help the sky push me down faster. I tried to ask them how long I'd been holding the sky for, but they weren't any help. They always gave me bogus answers. They'd tell me it had been months, sometimes even years. They would tell me the gods had abandoned me, left me to rot under the sky for the rest of eternity. Sometimes though, they would tell me it had only been a couple days. They'd mock me for having such trouble holding the sky after only a couple days while Atlas had held the sky with little trouble for millennia.

The pain was excruciating and tore through my whole being. Holding the sky for several minutes so that Artemis could trap Atlas had been almost impossibly challenging and painful, but holding it for a never-ending amount of time was exponentially harder. Not only could I not see the end, I had plenty of time to think about what I was doing. The constant pain only grew, never getting a chance to be relieved. Beyond that, it didn't just put strain on my body. It needed my willpower to support the sky, and over time, my mind felt as if it was being destroyed as well. I began losing sight of everything except the pain, the sky, and whatever remained of my motivation to hold the sky.

Finally, the day came where I knew I couldn't hold the sky any longer. I had reached my absolute limit. I'd been pushed hard before, but to see my true limits was strange. I could feel myself about to give out and I knew that this was all I was capable of. I tried to lift the sky once more, but I knew I wouldn't be able to. The thing about limits is that they can't be broken. People talk about giving 110%, but that's bullshit. If you can give 110%, your 100% isn't really all you've got. Every body has its ultimate limit and I had reached mine.

In only a matter of seconds, I was going to collapse and the sky would meet the earth once more. The resulting explosion would devastate California and destroy everything. I didn't want that to happen, but I no longer had the power to fight back. Just as the sky was going to touch the Earth though, I felt it lift from my shoulders. I then felt my body being dragged away. After that, I passed out.

I didn't remain unconscious for long. After a minute or two, I slowly opened my eyes and felt immense relief. I could relax gain. All the pain I'd been enduring was no more. I could slowly feel it draining from my body. The strain on my muscles was disappearing as well. My mind was able to relax and I no longer suffered from the sky. I was still in pain, my body hurt and my mind needed a break, but I could feel myself recovering from the experience. Once I could think again, I looked around and saw Athena. She didn't look pleased or disappointed. Instead, she just watched me with her calculating gray eyes.

After several more minutes, I was able to stand again. I took in my surroundings and saw Atlas under the sky once more. He was busy glaring at empty space, which I assumed once held the gods who had placed him back under the sky. After several seconds, he turned to face me. For a second, I thought I saw a hint of respect in his eyes. However, it was gone as quickly as it appeared and he covered it up with a glare. "Congratulations Jackson. It seems you're a little stronger than I gave you credit for. I still don't know why you were being forced to hold the sky, but you did manage to hold it successfully for quite some time. You gave me a longer break than I had been anticipating, that much is for sure. I still don't like you though, so don't go about getting any funny idea's. On the other hand, if I ever get free again, I'll make sure to find you and place you under the sky, you seem to be pretty good at holding it."

Before Atlas could say anymore, Athena grabbed my shoulder and teleported us away from the mountain. When I could look around at my surroundings, I noticed I was near the entrance to the Garden of the Hesperides. Before I could question her, Athena spoke up, "Your final test begins now. You're tired and mentally exhausted. I also quadrupled your demigod scent. Any monster within 100 miles of you shouldn't have too much trouble finding you. As you did to get here, you must now return to camp on foot. You are worn down and exhausted. You want nothing more than a break and to rest for a week. Let us see how you fare with your back against the wall. If you make it to camp alive, I will give you my blessing to court my daughter. If you don't make it, you die. I wish you the best of luck." With that, she disappeared in a flash of light.

I groaned. I'd travelled the country to get here, but I was exhausted now. I also wouldn't get a break. With my scent increased as much as Athena said, I'd need a miracle to get to camp alive. I could travel 100 miles a day if I forced myself to, but monsters within 100 miles could find me, so I'd never be able to outrun them. They could gang up on me and attack me when I wouldn't be able to fend them all off. The journey back home was going to be a real challenge.

I gave off another groan, but this time I started running east as well. The sooner I got moving, the better. Luckily for me, there was a river nearby, so as I ran through it, I was able to recover a decent amount of strength. The perks to being a son of Poseidon. The strength boost was great, it would allow me to keep running longer. I knew that if I was running, I was in less danger of being attacked. They'd wait for me to stop and start resting before attacking me, to try and catch me off guard. The more I could run, the safer I'd be.

For the most part, my assumptions of when the monsters would attack me held true. I soon found I'd never be able to get a full nights sleep. Eight hours was too long to be able to expect the monsters to leave me alone. In response to this, I changed my travel habits. I went in twelve-hour shifts. Move for eight hours, sleep for four. It was more tiring than getting eight hours of sleep, but since I couldn't get eight hours of sleep anyways, this was the best I could do. The good thing about these trials was that they had made me a lot stronger. My stamina and strength both physically and mentally had reached new levels. I was capable of travelling further and forcing myself to keep going beyond what I should have been able to do. The monsters who did attack me weren't even close to a challenge.

I was also mad at Athena. She had told me I was supposed to hold the sky for one month, but at the first store I stopped at for supplies, I found I had been holding the sky for nearly two months. It angered me that she had lied to me, so I made it a point to ask her about that the next time I saw her. At this point, there was nothing I could do, but I wanted to know why she'd lied to me. Also, it made me mad that she'd kept me away from Annabeth for longer than I'd hoped for. Something about this whole thing seemed suspicious to me, but I was too mentally exhausted to figure out what. I'd worry about that some more once I got back to camp.

Since I was travelling nearly 100 miles a day, it didn't take much more than a month to reach New York. Seeing my home city was great and I was tempted to check in with my mother, but I knew that would be a bad idea. As long as my scent was being elevated, going around mortals was a dangerous idea. So, instead of visiting my mother, I turned and headed towards camp, to visit my lovely girlfriend and get the approval of her mother.

Before long, Halfblood Hill came into view and I nearly burst with excitement. I was so close to home, so close to he completion of my test. All I needed was to travel a few more miles and I'd be done. I could relax again, not have to worry about monsters attacking me every second. I could be with Annabeth and live happily ever after. The thought of being done with these tests was so nice, I almost missed the army of monsters sneaking up behind me. Luckily though, my old friend let out a loud MOOOOOO and I turned to see what was going on.

I was maybe a mile from safety, but I had brought an army of monsters behind me. It was the largest group of monsters I'd seen since the last war. As I saw the group, I realized what had happened. They'd been following me the whole way back, picking up friends as I travelled but not attacking. Now, they were going to all attack at once and hope that would be enough to take me down.

The army was made up of close to 100 Hellhounds. Along with them, there were maybe 10 Laistrygonians and another 25 Dracaena. Leading the army was none other than my favorite monster of all time, the Minotaur.

Behind me, I could hear Peleus putting up a warning cry, telling the camp that there was an army of monsters approaching. I knew I couldn't let the campers interfere though, I'd brought the monsters here, they were my responsibility to get rid of. I'd be failing my friends and the campers if I put them in danger. I knew it wasn't the smartest thing in the world, but I had to finish this battle before anyone came to reinforce me. I drew my sword and charged the Minotaur.

As I expected, he was able to block my first strike with his massive axe. Based upon the hate burning in his eyes, I'd say he recognized me. He was dressed in his armor once more, so I figured he came for business. He also appeared to be a little stronger, maybe after I'd killed him so many times, he decided to try and get a little stronger. He grunted at me before shoving me away with a push of his axe. He tried to follow it up with a swing, but I sidestepped the blow and swung my sword upwards at him. He managed to step back from the blow, but not enough to prevent me from cutting off the tip of his right horn.

The Minotaur let out an angry moo and swung his axe at me once more. This time, it was parallel to the ground, about chest high to me. I ducked under the axe and moved in on him. Before he could recover from his massive swing, I cut his axe's handle in an upward motion. Breaking the axe caused the Minotaur to overbalance, giving me an opportunity to land another blow. I continued my previous swing and brought my sword down on his left collarbone. My sword tore through his armor and continued to slash him halfway down his torso. As he bellowed in pain, I gave a strong thrust into his right torso, breaking through his armor and piercing him all the way through. I watched in satisfaction as he dissolved into monster dust.

With the Minotaur dispatched, I moved my gaze to the rest of his army. They didn't look to thrilled to be without their leader, but they charged me none-the-less. I did my best to kill them before they could land any blows on me, but the sheer number of enemies was overwhelming. I was successfully killing them all, but they just kept coming. For every one that I killed, two more took its place.

As I battled the army, I caught a glimpse of the hill and saw campers gathered with weapons ready. Before they could charge though, a flash illuminated the hill and held the campers back. I figured it was Athena, telling them not to interfere in my battle. I silently thanked her for that and returned my full attention to the battlefield.

I was winning the battle, but I wasn't sure how long that would last. I could feel myself draining of energy and getting cut up. This entire quest of mine had been exhausting. I hadn't been able to sleep comfortably in nearly five months. I hadn't had a break either. I'd been going full speed nonstop for longer than I should have and it was all starting to catch up with me. With every swing of my sword, more exhaustion piled onto me. If this battle didn't end soon, I'd pass out before the monsters had a chance to kill me.

Soon, there was a lull in the battle. I took a second to assess my situation and groaned. I'd been killing monsters for nearly half an hour, but there were still at least twenty monsters left. The remaining monsters circled up around me and I took a look at what I was facing. I saw a majority of Hellhounds, probably about twenty of them. Mixed in with them were a few Dracaena, maybe five of them. That was all I saw before they moved in to continue the assault.

With my exhaustion catching up to me and my wounds from the battle piling up, I wasn't sure how I was going to survive. I did know one thing though, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I was going to give everything I had, because that's what I needed to do to prove to Athena I was worthy of her daughter. I dug deep into myself and pulled out one final reserve of energy. I don't know where it had been hidden, but as soon as I tapped into it, the battle went back to my favor and I was able to kill the last of the monsters.

As the final monster dissolved into dust, my body gave in to everything I had been through for the past five months. My eyes closed as I fell into unconsciousness. My sword dropped from my hand and my body made its way to the ground.

The last thing I saw before finally succumbing to unconsciousness was Athena catching me and telling me that I'd succeeded. My lips curled into a smile at that thought and I drifted willingly out of consciousness knowing that I had her approval to date Annabeth. It had been a hellish struggle, but I'd done it. I'd earned Athena's approval.

_**That would be the second chapter rewritten. That was not my favorite chapter. I'm not really fond of the first couple chapters. They're important, but they aren't m favorite things to write. Whatever, it's all better from here. The next chapter's a little better and the one after that is even better still.**_

_**I don't know if you noticed, but this chapter is way longer than it used to be. It gained approximately 2,000 words, give or take 100 or so. I don't feel like I added anything, but whatever, I like it better now.**_

_**Now, I've had several people ask me about the whole rewriting thing, and why I'm doing it. They're like, "You're story was great, it doesn't need to be rewritten," and I agree with them. It doesn't need to be rewritten. The story was great and I liked it. The problem was that it was getting away from me. If you aren't an author, that might be hard to understand, but pretty much, I had plans for what I wanted to do with the story and as I wrote, I did a few things that I hadn't been planning to do and they wound up messing with what I had planned. In the end, I was as a point where I either had to come up with a new idea for how I wanted this story to go, or I had to rewrite things so it went with what I'd wanted. It's dangerous to write without a clear objective, because if you do, you end up rambling on and on and the story never ends. As much as I like writing, all stories need to have an end, otherwise there isn't any point. Due to all of this, I decided to just rewrite what I had and try to do a better job of writing it the way I wanted to. Hopefully you can understand that.**_

_**They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. If you like my story but want to do things your way, just copy my idea and go ahead, I don't mind. **_

_**Anyways, that's all for now. Until next time, may the force be with you.**_

_**Rewritten 7/17/2012**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Okay, time to rewrite the next chapter. Fun times.**_

_**Oh god. I know I said this chapter wouldn't be as bad to rewrite as the last one, but now I'm not sure. I have to redo the whole Annabeth/Percy scene. That is not my specialty when it comes to writing, so this might not be too fun. You can tell how much I didn't want to write that scene initially cuz of the whole running into Leo part. That is complete and total filler right there. A perfect example of me delaying my problems. At the same time though, I like that scene, so it's staying.**_

_**So far, I'm quite pleased with the response I've gotten from my rewrites. Even those who didn't think I needed them seem to enjoy the quality increase. Anyways, here goes.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or the associated books. **_

_-Percy POV-_

I never could remember my dreams from after the battle, so I figure I went dreamless, a pretty rare occurrence for me. Instead of dreaming though, I remember waking up feeling like something was wrong. The feeling of wrongness combined with my recent time spent waking up to monster battles had me jumping out of bed as soon as my eyes were open. I reached for my sword only to find it wasn't where I normally kept it at night.

At that, I started to panic before I realized where I was. As I looked around for monsters, I realized instead that I was in the bighouse. In the infirmary from the looks of it. I remembered my quest for Athena to get her approval and I remember how it ended. The final battle against the massive army of monsters. Once that had ended, I'd passed out. I realized the campers must have taken me here after that and treated my injuries.

As I gained my bearings, I took a better look at myself. I seemed to recall being cut in several places by monster teeth and weapons. I should be cut up, but instead, I didn't appear to have a scratch on my body. However they'd healed me had worked pretty well. Also, I noticed for the first time how much stronger I felt. I'd woken up after a long rest before, but I'd never felt this powerful afterwards. I guess gaining the strength with no chance to pause had made me oblivious to just how much stronger I had gotten.

Before I could take in any more though, someone was giving me a hug and bleating in happiness. "Perrrrrrrrrcy! You're awake! You've been out for three days and we were all worried about you."

I looked down at Grover and smiled, "Sorry G-man, didn't mean to have you all worried, I was just a little exhausted from my quest and it seemed to all catch up to me in the end. I don't think I've ever been that thoroughly exhausted before."

He smiled back at me, "Well Percy, it's nice having you back again. You were gone for almost five months and didn't contact us even once. We were all worried about you. As for your quest, I don't know what you did, but you definitely seem stronger. Almost the entire camp saw you decimate that monster army on your own and then collapse. It was crazy. We'd never seen anything like it."

"Well, I've gotten a lot stronger. I'll tell you about my quest later, it's quite the long story. Also, I didn't want to worry you guys, but I wasn't allowed to contact anyone. How about you though? Aren't you a Lord of the Wild? Shouldn't you be doing your nature duties and stuff? How long have you been looking over me?"

Grover just grinned at me, "Yeah, I've been pretty busy with my duties, but as soon as I heard you were back, I figured I could take a little break and check up on my best friend. Who I haven't talked to in nearly five months."

I couldn't help smiling at that, "Well, thanks Grover. Now, how long am I stuck in here for? I feel fine and it seems like I've healed completely. It's nice talking with you, but I know I've got other friends who've worried about me as well. I want to catch up with everyone. Also, how's Annabeth doing? I haven't seen her in forever and I really want to talk to her now."

For a second, Grover got a weird look on his face, almost like he was scared of something, but it disappeared quickly and he was right back to smiling at me. "You can leave whenever you feel better. You were only here to heal and you finished that yesterday, then it was a matter of waiting for you to wake up again. Besides, you're the Savior of Olympus, no one dares to tell you what to do," he laughed.

I cracked a smile and smacked Grover's arm, "You know I don't like you talking about me that way. I'm no better than anybody else. Now, where can I go to find Annabeth?"

Grover's earlier joking demeanor left him and he got serious, "Um, I don't really know. I haven't seen her around much lately, so I don't know where she would be. You should probably check her cabin, the forges, or the arena. She seems to like those places."

I nodded and grinned at Grover again, "Thanks Again for being here for me, now get back to your duties before you start getting in trouble. I'll go find Annabeth and my other friends. I'll talk to you at dinner or something." With that, I gathered myself and walked out of the infirmary. Once I was out, I walked through the bighouse and out into camp.

It was a nice day at camp, maybe 80 degrees and sunny. There were a few clouds in the sky, but nothing major. A refreshing breeze was blowing through as well. As I looked around, I could see campers going about their daily activities. Nothing seemed even remotely amiss, which was odd since normally demigod instincts were accurate and mine had been bugging me about something being wrong ever since I'd awoken. I sighed, _first things first, _I though. I'd find Annabeth and talk to her. It had been way too long since I'd seen her and I really missed her; things just weren't the same without her around. I'd tell her about the tests her mother had given me and once we'd finished catching up, I could ask her about anything that might wrong. Something was definitely wrong, I could tell that much.

Deciding to follow Grover's advice, I made way to the forges, they were closer than Annabeth's cabin or the arena and Grover had mentioned that Annabeth might be there. I wasn't sure why she'd be there, but she had a reason for everything, so I could just ask her once I found her. Once I reached the forges, I realized it was pretty much empty. There were a few Hephaestus kids working away, but no sign of Annabeth.

I turned to leave, but before I got more than a few steps, a familiar voice called out, "Hey there, Percy! It's good to see you up and moving again. I saw you fight off those monsters the other day and thought it was pretty impressive. I was about to head down and help out by frying a few of their butts, but before I could, Athena appeared and held us all back. Ah well, that was quite the show you put on."

I turned around and saw Leo grinning at me. He'd always been a cool guy to hang out with. He was reliable and good with his hands, so he was also a great help in battle. We'd become good friends during the giant war, well, all seven of us prophecy kids had become good friends, but Leo was always pestering me and hanging around so we became pretty close. I grinned at him, "Thanks Leo. It's the thought that counts. It's good you didn't join in though, that was my fight, those monsters had followed me so it was my job to get rid of them. Anyways, it's nice being back. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to know where Annabeth is would you? I've been trying to find her but I don't know where to look."

Leo's smile disappeared, but he turned away before I could see what had replaced it. I wondered what he was thinking, but before I could wonder for too long, he spoke up with his face in some project or other, "Annabeth? Oh, I'm not really sure. I'd check the arena though, she likes to relieve stress by practicing there and testing her new battle strategies and that kind of stuff. Hey, you think you could tell me about your quest and why those monsters were after you? I'm a little curious about that."

I paused for a few seconds, something seemed off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I shrugged it off and answered Leo, "Sure, I can tell you about my quest. Not right now though, I'm off to go find Annabeth. Maybe tomorrow though, depending on how things go." I then turned and walked out of the forges and made my way towards the arena.

As I walked, I ran into several of my other friends who all wanted to know why I'd been gone for so long and why I'd come back to camp being chased by an army of monsters. I just shrugged and told them I'd tell them my story later. The more people I ran into, the more I wanted to see Annabeth. When I finally reached the arena, there was a class going on and Annabeth was helping to teach it. It appeared as though she was working with some Hephaestus kid. Since they were currently sparring, I decided I could watch for a bit before barging in.

As I watched, the Hephaestus kid, who was fighting with a sword, came charging at Annabeth who was using her knife. The guy swung his sword at her shoulder, but she ducked the swing and got in close to the guy. Her knife went straight to the guys' throat while her free hand hit the guys' sword wrist, causing him to drop his weapon. When it was over, the guy had his back to the wall and Annabeth's knife at his throat.

With the sparring match over, I decided to make my presence known. I applauded their little skirmish and walked into the arena. "That was a nice move Annabeth. Congratulations, it appears you've gotten even better since I left." I smiled at her, but for some reason, she appeared to be almost afraid of me. The guy she had been fighting had a similar expression on his face.

After a few seconds of just staring at me in shock, Annabeth managed to regain her composure and forced a smile onto her face, "Hey Percy. Welcome back from your quest. It's good to see you up again, that battle you had at the camp boundaries was impressive. It seems you've gotten even better at fighting while you were gone as well."

I smiled at her, "Thanks. Now, can we go somewhere and talk? I want to catch up with you after having been gone for so long."

She smiled at me, but I could tell it was still forced. Something was wrong here, I could feel it and it was getting worse. "Yeah, we should talk. In private. Come on." That's all she said before grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the arena and towards the forest.

During the short walk, I tried talking to her but she wouldn't respond to anything. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but it was definitely getting worse. The way Annabeth was acting had me incredibly worried. She never acted nervous or fidgety, but that was exactly how she was acting now.

After we had gone a ways into the forest and away from all the campers, she stopped and turned to face me. I was about to speak, but the look on her face made me stop. She was clearly nervous and looked to be scared as well. For whatever reason, she also couldn't seem to find the words she needed to express her thoughts. She just stood there with a look on her face I'd never seen before. After several minutes of silence, I decided it needed to be broken. I looked into her eyes and managed to speak, "What is it Annabeth? What's wrong?"

She immediately looked away and started fidgeting even more. She took several deep breaths to try and calm herself before she started speaking, "Percy, please don't take this the wrong way," she began. She then paused and looked at me, as if she expected me to explode at any moment.

Instead of exploding, I felt like I was going to implode, if she was about to say what it sounded like she was going to say, I wasn't sure what I would do. It already felt like my world was crumbling and she hadn't said it yet. It seemed crazy to believe that she would say what it sounded like she was going to, but what else could have her looking and acting this way? I looked at her, begging her to just tell me.

She sighed and continued, "Percy, after you left for your quest, I was worried about you. I was stressed and took it out in the arena. The training dummies didn't last long with me, so I spent a lot of time at the forges and with Hephaestus campers to get new ones made. They got sick of making me dummies all the time, so one of them decided he'd just spar with me whenever I needed it."

I could feel my eyes starting to water. I'd been afraid of where this story was leading and I was really hoping that it wouldn't end how I thought it would, but the more she said, the more likely I felt I was right about where this was going to end. I sat down on the ground and put my back against a tree for support. I wished I could stand and leave the area, but I no longer had the strength to move. Just listening to Annabeth tell me this had drained me of all my energy. Now, I was being forced to listen to the end of the story I didn't want to hear.

Annabeth continued her story, "Each day, I began spending more time with him. At first, it was just training in the arena, but then I was helping in the forges as well, or he'd be helping with my architecture stuff. It was nice having someone who could understand the work I did and even provide meaningful help with it. About four months after you had left, I began to realize I had growing feeling for this guy and my feelings for you were going away. I couldn't be sure, but as soon as you got back to camp and I'd seen you, I knew it was true. I've been feeling incredibly guilty about this because I know you only did that quest for me. You loved me and tried to get my mothers approval and I repaid you by falling in love with someone else. I couldn't contact you to end your quest because mother had prevented all communication with you until you got back. I'm really sorry Percy, but I just don't love you anymore."

By this point, the tears were flowing freely from my eyes and I was shaking my head, trying to deny that this was happening to me. Why couldn't I ever have good things? I could never have a happy ending. There was always one more thing that had to go wrong in my life. Sure, this wasn't a war against a super powerful ancient deity, but it felt just as bad to me. Why did the fates hate me so much? What had I ever done to deserve this pain I was feeling? All I had ever done was try to save everything I cared about, and for the most part I'd succeeded. So why did I need to lose my true love?

Annabeth gave me an apologetic smile, but it didn't help. I wanted her smile that was full of love, not sorrow. I could tell she was struggling to tell me this. I knew she didn't want to hurt me, that she was telling me this only because I needed to hear it sooner and from her rather than later from someone else. I could tell she was hurting herself by having to hurt me this way. She knew I was in pain and she'd caused it. She also knew there wasn't anything she could do at this point to make it better.

I looked into her eyes and I could tell she meant it. She no longer loved me. Instead, some Hephaestus camper had gotten lucky enough to be the one she loves. "Who is he?" I choked out.

She looked at me and didn't respond for a little bit, "I don't if I should tell you right now. You're hurting and I don't want you to anything you might regret."

I shook my head as the tears continued falling, "I won't do anything stupid. I promise. Just tell me who this guy is. I need to know his name. Please. Annabeth, just tell me."

She sighed, "His name is Kyle. He's the guy I was sparring with when you showed up. I'm really sorry Percy, I never wanted to hurt you, but I couldn't help it. It just happened and Kyle makes me happy and I love him. I hope we can still be friends and that you can find true happiness with another girl." With that, Annabeth stood up and walked back towards camp, leaving me alone to my tears and pain.

I don't know how long I stayed there, sitting in the forest against a tree and crying, but it lasted quite a while. All I wanted was a peaceful, happy life, but apparently that was too much to ask for. I finally had something good and now it was gone. The girl of my dreams had left me and I spent hours alone in the forest, crying over my loss.

Eventually, I managed to calm down a little. I was still sad about losing Annabeth and a little upset about it, but I knew I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't be mad at Annabeth, she truly hadn't meant to hurt me, but after everything I'd just done so we could be together I couldn't help but be a little resentful. I didn't want to be mad at her though, so I tried to place my hate on Kyle. However, I couldn't really hate him either, he hadn't meant to hurt me, it had just kind of happened. I'd also promised Annabeth I wouldn't do anything stupid. So, instead of taking out my anger and sadness on him, I just sat in the forest and wallowed in my pain and misery.

After I had calmed down enough to walk again, I went to the beach. I knew seeing the ocean would help to refocus myself and get me over my depression. Once I arrived at the beach, I walked up to the waters edge and sat down. There was no one else at the beach, which I was thankful for, so I could be alone and not have to deal with any other people. As I sat, I felt the waves roll up against my legs and try to comfort me. The ocean could feel my sadness and was trying to comfort me. For hours, I just sat there in the waves and felt the flow of the tides.

I was snapped back to reality once the water reached my stomach. I shook my head and looked around. It was dark now, so I knew had missed dinner. I'd probably missed campfire as well. People were probably worried about me and I knew I should get back to camp so they would know I was all right, but I wasn't all right, and for the moment, I didn't care if they were worried about me. I needed to be alone.

I could feel my emotions were still threatening to spill over, so that would make going back to camp an even worse idea. As calm as I was now, I knew that I needed to vent. My biggest problem was figuring out how to do that without causing serious damage to camp or to people. I was so strong that beating up dummies wouldn't do anything for me. No one at camp could beat me in a duel before I'd left, there was no way anyone would be able to defeat me now, so dueling with someone wouldn't work either, they'd probably just end up critically injured.

The sea does not like to be restrained. I knew that, and so I knew I wouldn't be able to bottle up my emotions for long. I needed to vent, and soon. If I didn't, there was no telling how much damage I would do when I finally exploded.

I stood up and felt a wave roll over my knee. As it did, I felt something in the wave. In order to figure out what it was, I walked into the ocean up to my waist. I could feel something fighting in the ocean. Something big. Without even pausing to think about it, I dove into the ocean and let it carry me towards this source of conflict. Before long, I found myself before a massive sea monster. _Good, _I thought, _this should help me vent some of my pent up emotions._

The seam monster was about 50 feet long and covered in hard scales. It looked like a large green whale with four legs and sharp teeth. Each of the legs ended in powerful flippers, allowing the monster plenty of power for navigating and maneuverability in the ocean.

Once I'd taken in the sight of my adversary, I drew Riptide and swam towards the monster. The sea monster moved a lot faster than I would have thought it could. As I moved to slice its neck, it jerked its head around and bared its fangs at me, ready to bite me in half and snack on demigod. It would have succeeded, except I could control the ocean and willed the currents to pull me away before it could land its powerful bite. After my first unsuccessful attempt at striking the monster, I decided to change strategy.

Instead of going for a power blow to end things, I willed the ocean to carry me around at high speeds and allow me to land quick strikes against the monster. As I hacked and slashed, the monster tried to swipe at me and bite me. Luckily, I was faster and more nimble in the water, allowing me to avoid the monster while landing plenty of my own strikes. Unfortunately, the monsters thick scale armor protected it from most of the damage. My strikes would barely cut the monster and I was spending most of my energy moving around fast enough to avoid being hit. It had been a while since I'd used my water powers this much and I was struggling to keep up in this fight.

The monster appeared to be weaker on its bottom, but whenever I would try to land a strike there, it would block me away with a leg or its mouth. On and on we went, battling without either side doing any real damage. The longer the battle went, the more of my emotional pain I was able to relieve, but I was also getting more frustrated with this battle. I should have been able to win it all ready, but the monster just kept blocking my attacks.

Finally, I got an idea. Maybe not the best of idea's, but it would have to do. After I gave the monster a few cuts on its thick scaly back, I went to deliver a strike to the underside. This time though, when it tried to push me away with its legs and bite me, I was prepared. I focused on the oceans currents and used them to push me into the monsters mouth before it could bite me. Once I entered, I jabbed Riptide through the back of the mouth and up into its skull, hopefully where the brain would be. Before the monster could try to swallow me, I had the currents pull me out of the mouth and away from the monster.

The monster let loose a wail of pain and fury before dissolving into dust that was then carried away to all corners of the world on the oceans currents. I felt Riptide return to my pocket and I swam back to the shore at camp. Once I arrived, I was feeling well enough to return to my cabin and sleep.

For the next couple weeks, I was pretty miserable. I tried not to show it, but I didn't do a very good job. Most people just started avoiding me in hopes that my depression wouldn't rub off on them. Every now and then, Annabeth would give me a sad smile, but other than that, she seemed perfectly happy. She was always with Kyle and he seemed to be able to keep her happy. I still hadn't talked to him yet, and to be honest, I had no plans on doing so. Seeing him with Annabeth hurt me, and there was no way I'd be able to talk to him until I was over it. Annabeth tried to talk to me a few times, but I would always disappear before she could get to me. I wasn't mad at her; it just hurt to be around her and not be with her.

Every night, my father would release a sea monster for me to fight. At least, I assumed it was my father, I wasn't aware of anyone else who'd be able to release monsters in the ocean and I'd never noticed this daily problem with sea monsters before. It helped me to relieve my stress and pain without hurting anyone. Every night as I stood in the ocean, I'd feel a new monster appear and I would go take off to deal with it.

One night, after a couple of weeks had passed, I was walking back to my cabin when I heard a voice call my name. I wasn't sure who had spoken or what they'd said, but the voice had come from the amphitheater. I stepped into it and saw that although no one was there, the fire was still burning. As I watched the fire, I saw a little girl walk around the side of the fire and smile at me, "Hello Percy."

I smiled at Hestia, "Good evening Lady Hestia, what brings you here?"

She gave me a sad smile before answering my question, "I wish to show you the truth."

Her answer confused me. "What truth? What are you talking about?"

She just looked at me with her warm eyes full of sorrow before responding, "The truth behind your sadness. You were always a good here; one who deserved a happy ending. I had hoped you would get it, but alas some of my relatives thought otherwise."

Her answer just served to confuse me even more. That, and make me curious. "What are you talking about? I've been sad because Annabeth left me, what else could there be to that?"

"That is indeed why you are sad, but what caused her to leave you? That is what I wish to show you. It makes me sad that some of the gods that you saved multiple times did this to you. I had hoped it wasn't true, but because of your kindness towards me, I took it upon myself to find the truth. Now, I wish to show you what I found out." She then reached out her hand and touched my forehead.

Once my vision cleared, I noticed I was in a temple on Olympus. I looked around and saw Athena sitting at a desk; she appeared to be deep in thought about something. After several minutes of silence, she stood up with a triumphant look on her face. She then quickly made her way out of her temple and down the street. She ignored all the looks she was given and walked right up to a different temple; one that seemed to just ooze love. It was almost sickening the amount of love I could feel emanating from it.

Athena didn't seem to have this problem as she just walked right up to the temples door and walked in. She didn't announce her presence, knock, or do anything to alert anyone present that she was entering. I thought that was kind of rude, but then the look on her face made me think she wasn't going to waste her valuable time with such unimportant frivolities as that. As she entered the temple, I saw a couch in the room was already occupied. I looked at the occupant and saw none other than the goddess of love herself.

I had seen Aphrodite before, but she still took my breath away. She was absolutely stunning. I found myself staring at her for several seconds before I remembered that there were more important things than staring at the love goddess to worry about. I watched as she opened her mouth and spoke, "Why hello Athena, it is most unusual for you to come visit me. What can I help you with today? Is there someone you want to break your oath to be with and you need my help to get him? Whatever it is must be important for you to just barge in like this."

I figured Athena would bite Aphrodite's head off for talking that way, but instead she simply ignored the comments and spoke, "I have no intention of ever breaking my oath, so get that thought out of your mind. What I want your help with involves a daughter of mine. She is in love with one who I do not approve of and I want you to make her fall in love with someone else."

Aphrodite looked a little sad that Athena wasn't planning to break her oath, but since the visit did involve love, she was still willing to help out. "Well, I suppose that's a start anyways. Maybe some day I'll be able to convince you of the joys of physical love and true love, but this is a start. Well anyways, explain to me what you need and I will see what I can do."

Athena nodded her head and ignored most of what Aphrodite said, cutting straight to the point, "I want you to make Annabeth fall in love with someone other than that pathetic sea spawn."

Aphrodite gasped and let out a scream of surprise, "WHAT!" She screeched. "No way, that is my favorite couple of all time, why would I break them apart? I've put too much work into that relationship to break it apart now. And anyways, didn't you just send Percy on a quest to earn your approval? What are you playing at here?"

I too, was stunned. Athena had sent me on a quest and at the same time was trying to break me and Annabeth up? What was going on here? I'd had a feeling that something was up with the quest, but I didn't want to believe Athena was truly that cruel.

Athena took a deep breath, "Calm down Aphrodite. I do not approve of the boy because he is a sea spawn. His father is the worst of the gods and therefore Jackson is not worthy of my daughter. Beyond that, I have two reasons why you should do this. The first is that you promised the boy you would make his love life a real pain, this would certainly make that happen. It would also allow you to mess with his love life again. My second reason is thus: I am close friends with Hephaestus, therefore, I can alert you to any traps he may have in store for you and Ares for the next millennium. You do me this favor and you won't have to worry about being embarrassed by him for a thousand years."

For several minutes, Aphrodite thought over Athena's proposal. Eventually, she seemed to reach a decision and responded, "That's why you sent Percy on the quest. Not to earn your approval, but to get him away from your daughter. You hoped that while he was gone, you could get her to fall for another man, but she didn't do that and so you've come to me for my help in the matter. Well, I guess I don't really have much of a choice in the matter. If I don't agree now, you'll just threaten me and blackmail me to do it. Fine then, swear on the Styx that you will do as you promised and I will help you."

Athena smiled, "I'm so glad you could see reason. I'd hate to have to threaten and blackmail you into this, so I swear on the Styx I will alert you all of Hephaestus's traps that I'm aware of for the next millennium. As for what I need you to do, I have things set up to where she should up with a son of Hephaestus named Kyle. I will keep Percy under the sky until he can't hold it anymore and then send him back to camp with a bunch of monsters. If he dies, that would make things easier, but if he doesn't, make sure you have this done before he gets back to camp."

Aphrodite looked up at Athena and gave a sad smile, "I see you have this whole thing planned out. I certainly hope Percy survives. He's done too much for Olympus for me to wish him dead. Just helping you here feels wrong, but I know better than to make an enemy of you so I'll go with your plan this time, but you owe me. Now, if I'm going to do this right, it's going to take several months. Try to keep Percy busy until then. If he shows up before I finish, it will just make everything more of a challenge. Annabeth won't fall in love with anyone else if Percy's around. Now, off you go Athena, I have some work to do and you will just get in the way."

Once Aphrodite said that, Athena got a smirk on her face and walked out of the temple grinning.

Once the vision faded, I was absolutely furious. I was also stunned and completely bewildered. After everything I had done for them, this is how the gods repaid me. I was livid and once again, I feared I might lose control. Before I could though, I felt a warm pair of arms wrap around me and a warm voice whisper soothing words in my ear. I could feel fresh tears spilling out and running down my cheeks, but I didn't really care. As Hestia soothed my anger, I found my absolute hatred being replaced with disappointment. The gods, well, Athena mostly and maybe Aphrodite, had disappointed me. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it, but before I fell asleep, I knew Athena was going to be getting a piece of my mind.

I woke up the next day in my cabin. As I struggled to remember how I'd gotten there, my memories of the night before returned to me and I felt my anger build up once again. I got out of bed and prepared myself for the day only to realize it was already past noon. I was initially shocked that no one had bothered to wake me up, but then I remembered that most people were trying to avoid me while I was in my depressed state. Well, lucky them, I was no longer depressed. Well, I was, but not as much. Now, I was just pissed. I save the gods time after time and Athena decides the best reward for my actions is to rip away the best part of my life. At this point, I knew I was going to do something stupid and that there'd be no stopping me from doing it.

With my mind set, I left my cabin and searched for Grover. I searched the entirety of camp, but couldn't find him anywhere. Eventually, I gave up on my search for him and found Chiron instead.

Chiron was teaching an archery class, but once I showed up, he stepped away to talk to me. I tried to give my mentor a smile before speaking, "Hey Chiron, have you seen Grover anywhere? I really need to find him."

Chiron looked at me suspiciously but answered all the same, "Grover went down to Central Park to take care of some of his duties. Why? What do you need Grover for?"

I shook my head, "I'd rather not talk about it. As you know, some unfortunate things have been going on in my life and it would be nice to talk to Grover. Thanks for telling me where he is, I'll see you later."

Before I could head off though, Chiron spoke up again, "Percy, don't do anything stupid. You've been depressed lately but today you seem almost happy, I don't know what's going on, but think before you act."

I nodded at Chiron before leaving the archery range. Part of me told me to listen to Chiron, to just forget about doing what I wanted to do; the rest of me however, had no intention of doing anything different. It was too late to stop me from doing something stupid.

Once I left the archery range, I made my way to the stables and found Blackjack. An hour later, I was in Central Park, waving at Blackjack as he returned to camp without me.

My next goal was to find Grover. I wasn't sure where he'd be, but I figured the more densely vegetated area was a good place to start. It didn't take long to find Grover, as him and a dryad were busy screaming at each other. Before things could escalate any further, Grover saw me and dismissed himself from his conversation and made his way over to me.

Grover looked at me and sighed, "Percy, you really need to calm down. This anger you're feeling is really messing with me; I can barely do my job right now."

I gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry Grover, I can't really help my anger, but that does bring us to why I'm here."

"Oh? And why is that?" He asked me.

"Well, I was wondering if I could convince you to break the empathy link with me. My emotional state is interfering with your job and it won't be getting better anytime soon. On top of that, I keep getting urges to do something stupid, if I follow through with that and end up dead, I'd rather not bring you down with me."

Grover gaped at me for a few seconds before responding, "Percy, what's going on? I know you've been depressed lately, but ever since last night, you've been pissed. Now you're here telling me you want to do something stupid that might get you killed. I can't let you do that."

I shook my head, "Grover, you can't stop me. I've made up my mind. Sometimes, when someone wrongs you, you have to give them a piece of your mind, consequences be damned. I'd rather die standing up for myself than live sitting down. On the other hand, this is a personal matter that you hold no part in, so I'd rather not see you dragged into it and put at risk because of our link, so I'm asking you to break it."

Grover sighed, "You're not giving me a choice here, are you?" I shook my head and Grover continued, "Fine. I'll break it, but you have to promise to tell me what this is all about. You're my best friend, I want to help you."

"I know Grover, and you're my best friend. I'll tell you what this is about, but not now, once I get back. I don't think I can talk about it right now without exploding."

Grover nodded, "Okay, close your eyes and I'll break the link."

I did as I was told and after a few seconds, I felt a tingling in the back of my head. Once the tingling died down, I opened my eyes and smiled at Grover. "Thanks man. Now, I'll be back later."

As I was about to leave, Grover called out, "Wait, Percy, I know you don't want to talk about what happened, but what are you going to do? I'd like to at least know that."

"Sorry G-man, but I can't tell you that. I promise I'll tell you everything later though. Once I get back to camp tonight, I'll send you a message."

Then, before he could say anything else, I left Central Park and made my way towards the Empire State Building.

_**Well, that's it for this chapter.**_

_**The next chapter might take a while. I've posted three chapters in a row from this story, so I need to go do some from my other story. **_

_**Also, I got a new dog today. She's adorable, but I'm spending time taking care of her and stuff, so that is also going to delay me a bit. I'll try to have the next chapter for this story rewritten within the next couple of days though.**_

_**Now, until next time, stay out of trouble. If you can't though, just don't get caught.**_


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